Haas driver Kevin Magnussen will miss the first free practice session and sprint race at the 2024 Brazilian Grand Prix this weekend. The team has called in their reserve driver Oliver Bearman to take over Magnussen’s car for these sessions at the Interlagos circuit, giving the young Briton yet another chance to participate in competitive sessions this season.
“Kevin Magnussen will not participate in Friday’s track running at the São Paulo Grand Prix after suffering with sickness,” the Haas F1 team confirmed in a statement as quoted by Autosport. “Official reserve driver Oliver Bearman will take over driving duties. The team wishes Kevin a quick recovery and will provide a further update in due course.”
MoneyGram Haas F1 Team driver Kevin Magnussen will not participate in Friday’s track running at the São Paulo Grand Prix after suffering with sickness.
Official reserve driver Oliver Bearman will take over driving duties. The team wishes Kevin a quick recovery and will provide a… pic.twitter.com/2ukuJXNmGe
— MoneyGram Haas F1 Team (@HaasF1Team) November 1, 2024
Since Brazil is a sprint weekend, Magnussen’s absence from sprint qualifying automatically means he will miss Saturday’s sprint race as well. However, there’s hope that Magnussen could recover in time to rejoin the action on Saturday afternoon for qualifying ahead of Sunday’s main Grand Prix.
Can Bearman continue his point-scoring streak in F1?
For Bearman, this race weekend presents yet another chance to get behind the wheel of a Formula 1 car, and he’s no stranger to filling in at short notice. Earlier this season, he stepped in for Magnussen during the Azerbaijan Grand Prix weekend after the Danish driver was given a one-race suspension due to accumulating too many penalty points.
During that race, Bearman showed a strong pace and scored a point by finishing 10th in Baku during his first full race weekend for Haas. He also stood in as a substitute for Ferrari earlier in the season when he replaced Carlos Sainz in Saudi Arabia.
OLLIE BEARMAN ENDS IN POINTS, DOTD OF THE SAUDI ARABIAN GP!!!!!!!!!#saudiarabianGP pic.twitter.com/YvMsMVCWK7
— leclerc data (@leclercdata) March 9, 2024
Sainz was forced to miss the weekend from FP2 onwards due to appendicitis and Bearman managed to finish seventh in that race and earned six points for Ferrari. With points on both of his prior outings, Bearman will look to continue his promising form this weekend in the sprint qualifying and Saturday’s sprint race as well.
